Girl Scouts Gets Game Creation Merit Badge

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Girl Scouts of Greater Los Angeles and Women in Games International have announced they are working together to create a badge for programing and creating video games. The Boy Scouts already have a similar badge.

“Our ultimate goal is to create a STEM-aligned video game badge for the Girl Scouts of the United States of America,” said Amy Allison, vice president at WIGI. “Creating this badge will get young girls excited in technology and science and let them know that they, too, can have a career in the video game industry.”

“Girl Scouts has a long history of developing pioneers in the fields of science and technology, so we are excited about collaborating with Women in Games International to ignite girls’ interests in STEM-related subjects,” said GSGLA Chief Executive Officer Lise Luttgens.

Source: GirlGamer.com {link no longer active}

BBC Looks At SyFy’s Defiance For Holistic Transmedia

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The BBC has a line up of properties well known around the world, including Dancing With The Stars, Top Gear and Dr. Who. The company would like to take a transmedia approach to its various popular brands going forward and would like if consoles made cross-marketing of such brands easier going forward.

“Defiance is a good example from SyFy, where if you can think of them holistically from the get-go it’s much more important,” said Robert Nashak, BBC’s executive vice president for digital entertainment and games. “I’m a big believer in games and media properties really working together. I used to do Harry Potter games for EA, and you were always trying to hit the movie deadline. That rush never worked. You can only get so much of the creatives’ time.”

“As a media company, for example, one of the things I’m interested in is can we cross-merchandise our stuff on the system When you go to iTunes and you look up Dr. Who, you get the TV show, you get the app, you get audio clips – it’s all there on the same thing. We sell and rent a lot of video on Xbox, through Netflix or through the Xbox video service,” he added. “We have a great partnership with Forza where we’ve integrated it with Top Gear. We’ve been trying to do as much as possible cross-merchandising, so that people get a sense of all the different ways a brand can get into their life. Creating new strategic gateways into these brands is important, and if Xbox does its job right I think Microsoft is going to develop a great cross-merchandising place for us.”

Source: GamesIndustry International

Darksiders, Red Faction Now Part Of Nordic Games

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Nordic Games Licensing AB has picked up the majority of THQ’s older properties. The Swedish publisher paid $4.9 million for the Red Faction series, the MX series, the Darksiders series and also got the large collected lots that included smaller series like Frontlines, Destroy All Humans, Titan Quest, Juiced, The Outfit, and Summoner.

“First and foremost we are very happy about this deal which also turns over a new leaf for the entire Nordic Games Group. In the long term, we either want to cooperate with the original creators or best possible developers in order to work on sequels or additional content for these titles,” said Nordic Games CEO Lars Wingefors in a statement. “A very important point for us is not to dash into several self-financed multi-million dollar projects right away, but rather to continue our in-depth analysis of all titles and carefully selecting different financing models for developing new installments of acquired IPs.”

“Naturally we don’t have any sure plans for the future of the series, as we don’t even have a development team,” added Nordic business & product development director Reinhard Pollice. “So, for now we will be analyzing the situation and trying to figure out what’s the best option. One thing is sure: The tale of the four horsemen is not over!”

Source: Forum.NordicGames.at

Grand Theft Auto V Ad Shoot Photos From Mexico City

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Leaked pictures of commercial shooting in Mexico City have surfaced showcasing wrecked cars located near a Grand Theft Auto V banner. The series has used in-game assets for its advertisements in the past, so using live action for the series would be a change of pace.

“The guy in the suit of the last photo exits the totaled car while talking to the camera, as he makes his way out, the car explodes and he walks by the car under the trees while some other effects are set behind him (I managed to see these in a monitor).” described Reddit user marcodj. “The shooting took place on Saturday April 20 and lasted until late Sunday.”

Source: PixelEnemy.com

Facebook Advertisers Object To Links On Offensive Pages

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People talk about all sorts of topics, including dark and sarcastic things (and sometimes dark things in a sarcastic fashion) on Facebook. Ads appear during whatever post people are making, and that’s upsetting some of Facebook’s ad partners.

The charities Shelter and RSPB, Vodafone, Dove Cosmetics, and the audiobook site Audible have complained that their ads consistently appears with group pages about rape. It’s not the first time Facebook has been criticized for failing to remove graphic material quickly, despite making $1.33 billion in ads just the last quarter.

The RSPB contacted Facebook after its adverts appeared on a page called “Indian girls”, as did those from Audible. The charity in a statement said, “Unless they can assure us that they are working out a way to guarantee this kind of thing doesn’t continue, we will be forced to consider our advertising options.”

“If advertising on Facebook means your ad could appear on hundreds of rape pages, advertisers should consider that very carefully indeed,” said Laura Bates, the founder of the Everyday Sexism Project.

Facebook claims that adverts on its site are targeted towards individual users, not towards pages. The social network says it looks to remove offensive material deemed to be “genuinely or directly harmful” as quick as it can.

Source: Telegraph.co.uk

Shin Megami Tensei IV Nets Special Edition

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Atlus announced that they will include Special Edition features for the first printing Shin Megami Tensei IV. This will include a 176-page strategy & design book featuring walkthroughs, charts, maps, tips along with full-color pages of artwork ranging from concept art to in-game pieces to never-used designs from character designer Masayuki Doi.

There will also be a Shin Megami Tensei Music Collection with a collection of tracks specially selected from across the 20-plus-year history of the Shin Megami Tensei series, with a special recording exclusive to the Music Collection CD. Finally, Shin Megami Tensei IV will have Collectible Slipcase Packaging  featuring full-color key art designed by Masayuki Doi and depicting the divergent paths of law and chaos for the samurai.

Shin Megami Tensei IV will launch on 3DS on July 16 for $50.

Facebook Home Headed To iOS

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Facebook indicated that features from its new Home software, currently built for Android, are coming to iPhone. While the Facebook software for Android takes over smartphone home and lock screens, the version for iPhones requires users to click into the social network’s mobile application.

“Home was about our ability to demonstrate what you can do when you own the whole experience,” said Facebook’s chief technology officer Mike Schroepfer. “We are working closely with Apple; with Microsoft, with everyone to try to get as good a Facebook people-first experience as you can across all devices.”

“We have a great relationship with Apple,” added Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg. “Google is aware of what we are doing; we have talked to them… We are committed to doing our best on every platform.”

Source: AFP {link no longer active}